Part 1 of the Featured Families Series
Summer hosting is about to begin! Today, several hundred children will be arriving to spend the summer with their host families. The hosting experience is exciting, exhilarating, and sometimes exhausting. This year, the NHFC blog will be following four families as they experience hosting for the first time. Each week, one of the Featured Families will write an update about what their time has been like. For all of these writers, the hope is that hosting can be represented realistically: all the hard and all the joy, as well as all the reasons why this is one of the most transformative experiences a family can have. Today, we would like to introduce you to the first two of our Featured Families as they start this journey.
Jonathon & Jennifer Williams
What they do:
Pharmacist and Work-from-home Photographer
Their family:
Two girls, ages 5 & 3 ½ , and one 16 month old boy.
Who they are hosting:
A “tween” brother & sister set (“K” & “A”)
How they found out about hosting:
One day I got an email about hosting an orphan from Eastern Europe so I took the time to learn all I could about why one would want to host, about the benefits of hosting (benefits to the child AND the host family), and it didn’t take us long to realize this was what God wanted us to do. We contacted New Horizons for Children and started pouring over the photo listings of each child available for hosting. Somehow we ended up with two instead of one, so now we are twice as excited! We are welcoming a brother and a sister into our home for 5 weeks. We are excited to show them about God and His love for them AND that our family/church family/community has a love for them. We want to teach them English and have been working on learning their language as well. Our girls are doing a great job at memorizing words and short sentences…we are just hopeful we are pronouncing them correctly!
How they are feeling about hosting:
Some days I wake up feeling nervous… hopeful and anxious that we will be the best we can be for these two precious kids. Then I stop and remember that God has His hands in this journey. It was His idea for us to do this and God doesn’t make mistakes. Overall we are super excited to meet them and welcome them into our home. We already have pictures of them hanging up on our walls and we talk about them every day–the girls are loving counting down the days until they get here AND until they can introduce K and A to their cousins, who live within 20 minutes of us. We have a few fun things planned such as go see waterfalls, visit the Aquarium, and maybe go tubing. But our main desire is to just do what we normally do: enjoy our home, play outside, care for our garden, feed our chickens/rabbits. We can’t wait to eat on our deck and enjoy the sunset (we love this part of our day!). We will swim at my parent’s house with cousins/aunts/uncles/grandparents and enjoy our Sunday lunch at Nanny’s after Church. Keeping things simple and flexible. We are praying not only for our summer and our host kids, but all the other families and kids involved with this beautiful ministry.
Paul & Virginia Davidson
What they do: 
Outdoor Gear Store Owner & elementary Spanish teacher
Their family:
Two girls, ages 6 & 18 months , and one 4 year old boy
Who they are hosting:
A teen brother & sister set (“D” & “K”)
How they found out about hosting:
We heard of NHFC through a few Facebook shares of a friend in Texas (who has never hosted herself yet, but would like to). One thing God continues to speak to our family is how He is going to change all of us, and we are going to make mistakes. We are not perfect; only He is. We are to love, guide, and pray for them while they are here and continue to do so for a lifetime. The NHFC families we have connected with have been an encouragement and informative as well.
How they are feeling about hosting:
Just a little time before their arrival my stomach is in knots and I wonder what they will think of our family, our home. As we pick up our toys and shift bedrooms around, I glance at the clock again and add 7 hours. My mind wanders for a moment, “It’s 5 o’clock, I wonder what they are doing right now.” My wonders turn into prayers as my children call my name from across the house. Another prayer is uttered, “Oh Lord, give us wisdom with our 3 children at home, and our 2 host children coming soon. Give us Your Peace, Joy, and Patience.”
With three young ones at home, we are looking forward to the weeks ahead. We thank God for the opportunity to be able to open our home this summer. Our children are excited to share their home and lives with our host children, and they tell every friend they know how excited they are.
We are a family of five that likes to be busy swimming and playing in the backyard pool, as well as taking in the views and activities along our Lake Michigan beaches. We are looking forward to sharing our outdoor movie nights and silly dance parties with our two host siblings from Eastern Europe this summer. D and K will join us at a local water park, campfires, soccer games, and evening reading and giggles. Before hosting, we spent a bit of extra special time with our kids individually to fill them up and prepare their little hearts to share. In addition, we are moving a bit of furniture and getting our summer to-do list done a bit early to leave open the month of July for birthdays and fun. So, as the chalkboard countdown in our kitchen reaches closer to their arrival, our excitement grows.
Stay tuned to read about our other two Featured Families and get ready for updates from them all throughout the hosting season!